The 10 most innovative social initiatives in Spain and Latin America awards 2018

CAF development bank of Latin America and Compromiso Empresarial magazine awarded "The 10 most innovative social initiatives of 2018" in an event held yesterday at the CAF headquarters in Madrid. As in previous years, the award recognizes those initiatives that bring about positive change in society and that contribute to improving quality of life for vulnerable groups; a recognition that has become an effective tool in promoting social innovation projects in Latin America.

The award-winning Spanish projects were: Cabify 100% carbon neutral emissions, the first mobility app in Europe and Latin America that compensates for all of its CO2 emissions, financing the Madre de Dios project in the Amazonian jungle in Peru, in collaboration with First Climate. The Saviaplatform, which promotes cultural change for unemployed professionals over 50, offering solutions to improve their employability. The ICEX Impact+ program, which supports Spanish companies in the internationalization of their business and investment activities in vulnerable population markets in emerging countries. Altum Faithful Investing, a financial advisory company regulated by the CNMV, that applies the Church’s social doctrine principles.

Movinsg3DMachine was also awarded, with Spanish participation and in collaboration with Mexico. It is a free download with 3D printing technology for industrial sewing machines, designed for users in wheelchairs. The list of winning Spanish companies also includes Retiplus, a system developed by a group of engineers and clinical advisors to improve the vision and quality of life of people with low vision pathologies. This project is a joint initiative between Chile, Uruguay and Argentina.

The other award-winning initiatives are: Patios y residuos (Peru and Ecuador), an installation for depositing and treating organic waste, used oil and electrical appliances, which transforms the waste into fertilizer or food base for animals and generates water for irrigation. Comida por un dólar (Argentina), a social project that seeks to eradicate worldwide hunger by using dehydrated food at one dollar per serving. Recarga verde (Colombia) Medellin Metro initiative to top up your travel card in exchange for recycling material. The Bolivian application App-Credit, an integrated and accessible set of digital channels to promote financial inclusion.

During the awards ceremony, José Antonio García Belaunde, the CAF European representative, described social innovation and entrepreneurship as "the engines of change and essential factors in generating competitive advantages." "In the case of Latin America, pointed out García Belaunde, these are necessary aspects in overcoming the enormous challenges in terms of economic growth and competitiveness. For CAF, promoting social innovation is essential. We promote initiatives that generate higher productivity and ecosystems with high impact solutions from the social sector." In short, "projects that contribute to transformation in a responsible manner and with a clear purpose: to make the world a better place, both for us and for future generations." the CAF European representative concluded.

In addition, María López Escorial, president of the Commitment and Transparency Foundation and editor of Compromiso Empresarial magazine, stressed that "it is a great pleasure to see that every year there are more and more institutions fully dedicating themselves to social challenges, with initiatives that have provided positive changes, revealing their commitment and effort to meet those needs that are not sufficiently covered and to bring about the behavioral changes needed to solve the larger social problems."

She added that "we are really proud of the impressive quality of the 220 initiatives we received, the high engagement of our readers in the selection of the winners, with about 4,000 votes, and the constant increase in the number of initiatives received each year. This highlights the contribution and impact these awards have, both for the promotion of social innovation in Latin America and for encouraging the engagement of all players in the search for solutions to social problems."

In this edition of the most innovative social initiatives awards, a total of 220 projects were presented from which 20 were selected by the jury.This shortlist provided the 10 projects which were finally awarded, through voting on Facebook and Twitter.